Muada's Trencher
by Athina.na
Summary: It was the last stretch, she would rather die and be sent to the pits of the abyss, fighting drones of the balaur for decades again than let them all die here. drabble


_Muada's Trencher_

A rush of aether floated around the chaos. Jerkily, it tried to find the thin strings tying it to the soul that still clung to the body lying broken to the side of the cavern.

It dodged and danced between bodies battered and caked in mud and blood, sending out weak pulses of healing eather. Of course by the time the pulse reached the deavas fighting frantically all over, it would be nothing more than a cool breeze on their faces.

Without a physical body to act as conduit and mana to transform the eather's power into healing magic, it would be nothing more than a weak manipulation of what the aether already was, nature and the raw materials it provided.

The soul wavered inside its dead vessel, longing to go back to the safety of the obelisk it was bound to, but with a burst of speed, the crystalline particles plunged inside the frail body of the Cleric.

Gasping desperately to bring air into her deprived lungs and sluggish brain, Athinin tried to stagger to her feet. Already she could see Muada being ganged up on in a last hurray by whoever survived the latest barrage of attacks.

Gathering aether with a sweep of her arms she run closer to the downed deavas around. A quick concentration and burst of power summoned a crystal with enough power to send healing wisps to the fighters nearby to help them get by long enough for her to revive everybody else.

Taking a deep breath, Athinin closed her eyes and _spread._

Her consciousness reached out with ghostly hands and found the souls still flickering between their bodies and their obelisks. Gathering her mana to make a safety net around each soul and corresponding body with aether took time and when she finally managed to send the mana keeping the nets around each person inside the vessels, soul, aether and all, she had almost depleted her mana pool and most of the previously alive fighters were dead.

Her vision had been blurry enough that she didn't notice one of Muada's soldiers slithering out of the sand just about ready to send her soul straight to the obelisk through sheer exhaustion.

By the time her eyes opened enough to see clearly, the only thing left to see had been teeth. Cursing her failure, she resigned to the fact that the raid on this Empress would probably be a failed attempt.

Just as the teeth were an inch from her face, the worm fell down dead, green goop pouring out of its neck, head almost severed by a scythe.

Athinin looked up to find Amon giving her a quick once over before going back in to help Aennie with keeping Muada busy.

The gladiator had just turned on his heel when a rush of warmth washed over him, and seconds later a wave of cleansing power leapt past him. The bigger cuts and burns from Muada's acidic blood healing over he plunged back into the fray.

Athinin didn't waste any more time. Waves upon waves of healing mana spread in the cavern, bathing the dim, sandy place in a light blue hue, mixing with the greenish hue of Clericon's mana.

It was the last stretch, she would rather die and be sent to the pits of the abyss, fighting drones of the balaur for decades again than let them all die here.

She could feel aether bursting all over the room. Sorcerers weaved spells and their incantations sounded loud and clear even in the chaos of war-cries from gladiators who unleashed powerful attacks from their polearms and greatswords to the short and echoing bangs from the gunslingers' pistols.

A cool wave rolled over her, refreshing like spring water from the melting lakes of Altgard and soothing like a flight over the frozen peaks of Katalma's mountain range, with the wind dancing on her face and her body weightless, her wings spread in joyful abandon.

She could feel aether flowing into her like a river. Athinin finished charging her most powerful spell and opened her eyes a crack.

Deineira had just turned her back to fling a burst of notes straight at Muada's eyes, making the great worm thrash about and spray the surroundings with acid and Athinin released her leash on the spell.

The release sounded like ringing bells on a lazy Sunday afternoon, echoing across Pandemonium and into the Legion's house. And as the soothing feeling of her burns healing muted the screaming of her abused nerves, she turned to inspect the entire alliance fighting furiously to finish off the fight that had dragged on for entirely too long.

Another quick burst of aether brought forth another healing servant to replace the downed one. Turning her eyes to Dream, who staggered dangerously even with all the healing waves in the room from both her and Clericon, she sent here a shot of her pure mana, instantly seeing the Brigade General standing up easier and shooting with more ease, not trying to keep her right shoulder from going too high up.

With a grin tossed her way, Dream wandered off to circuit the room, firing shots in chips in Muada's armor and keeping her distracted from attacking the other gunslingers, rangers and sorcerers.

An unholy screech sounded across the room, deafening and making the walls and stalactites rock. A thundering crash followed soon after as finally the worm fell down dead.

For a moment everybody was silent, only coughing out the dust that had been caught in their throats from the start of the fight but couldn't spit out.

When Aennie poked the worm with her sword and it didn't move sighs of relief sounded from everybody and felt like the rough breeze from Salintus desert in Morheim over Athinin's face.

The loud cheering from finding the treasure trove a minute later was enough to send her into peals of laughter over the enthusiasm everybody showed.

But she couldn't complain when she found a found a nice hairpin that could finally replace her old, battered one.

~0~o~0~

The entire house of the legion was alit and loud. Sounds from music and scents from food and drink wafted along the corridors like snakes enticing her to go back inside, to leave the balcony and the view for the couples and go have fun and a drink with her friends.

But, sometimes it was good to simply get away for a while.

Athinin sighed, when you were part of a legion, you were part of a family. She glanced back just in time to see Amon and Sukkoto start dancing on the tables, faces flushed and armor discarded for now.

All the laughing faces, the ridiculous conversations and all the tips and trucks people shared brought old memories, making her melancholy mood rather dark. She missed her old legion terribly, but there was no way to bring everybody back together, she had accepted that, moved on.

She sighed and glanced inside, checking to see if everybody was occupied and not looking for her. She could go back inside now or later when the toast to the promotion of the legion to the elites was going to happen and the cakes would come out.

She brought her drink to her lips for a sip, the rich flavor rolling down her throat, a hum of the senses almost like the jungles of Elten, a dredged up memory from when she had been stationed in Beluslan and had fallen through a rift. It had been nice, walking in a flourishing place, full of life and plants, until she had spotted some Elyos and then turned tail to hide and use the only teleportation scroll she had had on her at the time.

She chuckled, she had been a panicky mess for a while after that.

She looked remorsefully at her empty glass and then back inside where the buffet was.

'_Oh, well…'_

With a shrug she walked by Noxmori, pulling open a ribbon holding together a piece of her getup for the night.

She may have walked on a little faster to the drinks after that and she may have used Korsha as a living shield when Nox threw her snack at her.

She laughed and dragged Chantar off to dance a bit, even if her friend wanted to just sit down and watch, but he didn't seem to be entirely against keeping her distracted when he saw her eyes downcast and dark. He knew her well enough from their time together in their old legion that she didn't need to say much of anything for him to understand that she needed a little closure and a distraction from dark thoughts.

They both sat down later, feeling lighter and chatting about that one time she had started chasing Ruddra around the old Legion Headquarters half-naked because he had hidden away her clothes.

By the time Dream called them all together for a toast, they had gathered a crowd and their stories had moved on from Athinin and Gladius' escapades in Anair Harbor in Beluslan, to that time when Dedly had taken teasing Gladius a bit too much and she had almost cut him into pieces and the ranger had run around the place, laughing and cackling for the entire hour the chase had held on.

They all hushed up then, the giggles and laughter quieting down as Dream started giving out a halting and awkward speech and toast. Her voice had been thick and slightly wavering. It reminded Athinin of the aether of Divine Fortress. Volatile and unsteady.

She just wished Zephius would come back to them all. For the longest time Grimhart had been like a skeleton of the Legion it had been before Zephius had gone missing. They had been together, they had been a family, even if she could hardly remember that time, it had been so long ago.

But for the longest time not everybody remembered that. Those had been lonely and long years that she didn't want to revisit.

As they all raised their glasses up, they all realized that in the end it didn't matter, they were here now and they were moving forward. Zephius would be proud of them all when he came back. And they could be proud of themselves that they didn't give up on this. That they could keep enough faith to push onwards.

For now, she was just content to revel in the aether of the Legion, happy, bubbly and upbeat.

They could take on anything, Athinin was sure of it.

_**A/N:** Well...nope I'm not dead, and yeah I finally lost interest in reading and writing...somewhat. Don't kill me all of you that want Relative Relations continued! At some point in time it will be completed...I hope.  
_

_Anyway, I got jelly. So here's a quick drabble of my life in Grimhart :3_


End file.
